The Alyona Show: Immigrants are People, Too

Published time: 22 Jul, 2010 17:00 Edited time: 26 Jul, 2010 18:29

The legal battle over Arizona's new immigration law begins. Alyona discusses the legal issues with Jordan Sekulow, human rights attorney and director of international operations for the American Center for Law and Justice, and Alex Nowrasteh, policy analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute.

Then, Alyona takes on the media for comparing Shirley Sherrod, a woman who lost her job for a couple of days, to a French captain, Nelson Mandela, and the start of the Great Depression. Watch Alyona as she puts everything into perspective for the mainstream media.

Alyona takes a look at the Obama Administration’s media presence. President Obama and his team were seen as masters on the campaign trail and now they can't seem to get back on track to prove to people that they're getting things done. Alyona discusses with Peter Loge, principal at Milo Public Affairs and Christopher Chambers, a professor at Georgetown University and the author of the blog Nat Turner's Revenge. Is the Administration just making too many mistakes, or are they not equipped to handle the national media?

Then, jobless claims jumped higher than expected last week and the Senate finally voted to extend unemployment benefits. But what about young college graduates in America facing debt and no job prospects? Alyona talks to Natalie Clay, a recent graduate from Syracuse University who is still on the job hunt. Find out how Natalie is dealing with her growing debt.

And, you always hear how big oil companies have Washington in their pocket, but is that really just a figure of speech? According to an analysis by The Washington Post, three out of every four lobbyists who represent oil and gas companies previously worked in the federal government. Alyona asks Dave Levinthal, communications director at the Center for Responsive Politics, if there is any real hope of decreasing US reliance on oil.

Finally, next summer, the classic comic book character Captain America will have a new Hollywood film. But it might be a little different than you'd expect. Find out what the film's director, Joe Johnston, said about this superhero and how he may not be as patriotic as he may seem. RT producer Lucy Kafanov joins Alyona to discuss what this says about where American pride has gone. Kafanov explains how the director is downplaying the American angle.